THE JOURNEY - LIVING THE FLY LIFE

THE JOURNEY LIVING THE FLY LIFE

Words & photos by Mick Underwood

If you are reading this then you have already been bitten by “the bug”. The bug that has, for eons, been biting and infecting countless thousands of anglers all around the globe. There is no scientific name for this bug nor the disease that it has inflicted us with. There is no known cure for this disease and its symptoms are felt within us on a daily basis and will continue to be felt until the day we each turn our toes up.

The only known medicine to fully ease the pain is to go fishing. However, the healing effects are only temporary and regular doses are required for one to remain sane. We can help to mildly ease the symptoms with regular visits to the fly tying bench, poring our eyes over relevant publications and online forums. Talking regularly with fellow infected individuals can help a little as well but nothing can beat just simply going fishing. Once infected we individually on a regular basis have to devote so much of our time to appeasing these symptoms that we are unknowingly engaging on a journey, a long and wonderful journey. A journey that leads one down an incredible endless tunnel, a tunnel where there is no light at the end and if there was we wouldn’t want to get there. This is the world of salt water fly fishing.

As with any journey there has to be a starting point and for the majority of us our entry into the world of salt water fly fishing has fairly humble beginnings. There are not many anglers around the world who start off their fly fishing careers by targeting elite species such as bonefish or permit in some far flung exotic location. These are fish that for the most of us are reserved for a time and place a little further along our respective journeys. Remember the first time you picked up a fly rod and dared to take it near the ocean. I’ll bet that first foray was at one of your favourite local honey holes targeting a species that you have targeted many times over with other forms of tackle. The areas that you first started to fish with a fly rod were more than likely areas where you already had a thorough understanding of the lay of the land. You already knew where the snags were, which way and how strong the current will flow at different stages of the tide. Where the bait will be and when your intended quarry will be there to take advantage of it. The species that you first chose to target would have been one that you have already had a good understanding of with regards to what they predate on and their preferred habitats etc.

It’s common knowledge that fishing with a fly rod is not the easiest way to catch a fish so those of us in the wider angling community that choose to fish with a fly rod relish a challenge. But by human nature when engaging in something unfamiliar we like to make things as easy as we can hence we start out targeting familiar fish in familiar territory. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with this as there is so much that can be learnt from chasing bread and butter species and it really is necessary to start honing skills and delete bad habits.

On the angling side of the journey it all starts with casting. When we first start learning to cast for the most of us it’s in the backyard, a nearby park or something

similar. In this arena we can control certain elements in order to make things easier for ourselves. We, by nature, cast in a direction relevant to the prevailing breeze that makes it easier for us to throw tight loops and attain distance and accuracy. We very rarely have big bulky flies tied on, we make sure that the area behind us is clear in order to get clean back casts and we ensure that the grass we are practicing on is clear of any form of debris that could foul our fly line. Get away from the park scenario and onto the water and all of a sudden these are elements that we can’t control and we have to learn how to deal with them.

You’re out on the water one day and you know that from past experience that there is probably a nice flathead sitting in ambush mode fifteen metres in front of you and you know that if you can get a fly anywhere near him it’ll get smashed. The problem is that you have to cast directly into a stiff breeze with a heavily weighted clouser and there is a moored vessel tied up to a couple of tall pylons directly behind you. This is the hair pulling frustrating part of the journey, meeting challenges head on that have to be overcome in order to advance further down the tunnel. Along the way there will be many lost flies and broken leaders. Don’t get desponded, it’s just part of the journey. You possibly won’t catch that particular flathead on that particular day but with time and practice you will. Then a little later on when you’re a little further along your journey and on a special trip up in the tropics. Say for instance sight casting to big barramundi lurking on the mangrove fringes, that’s when your freshly and frustratingly acquired new skills will come to the fore. You’ll be able to get that Dahlberg with the aero dynamics of a brick up over the mangroves and high into the air behind you and then be able to punch it forward into the breeze and present it nicely on the nose of the fish that you are targeting. It won’t always come together but hell, it sure is nice when it does.

Sight casting is something that is integral to our sport and for the purists among us, it’s an essential component. Your sight fishing journey doesn’t have to start by casting to bonefish on an atoll out in the

middle of the pacific somewhere, it can and probably should start in your backyard. There are many bread and butter species available to us all around the expansive coastline of this country. To single out just one species that we all have available to us in coastal Australia would be the good old whiting. These are an awesome fish to start your sight fishing journey with and I can guarantee that when learning to target these little pocket rockets there will be many lessons learnt along the way. They are as cagey as all hell and you need to be on your A game to be in with a chance. Simple things such as working out what strength and length of leader to use, knowing what they are predating on so as to match the hatch with your fly. Learning how much to lead the fish in order to not spook the fish but still get its attention. Working out how to approach a fish and get into position for a cast without scaring it and watching it bolt for the horizon. Even just learning how to use your eyes in order to see a fish at a suitable distance in the first place is critical. These are all basic skills that are essential to have in order to be successful on your sight fishing journey. If you can get your head around sight fishing for whiting and be successful on a regular basis then when you get a little further along the tunnel and do bump into Mr Bonefish it’ll be a cinch.

As we progress further into our fly fishing journeys the fish that we choose to target will invariably get bigger and faster. As already mentioned, being salt water fly anglers we love and need a challenge, as one hurdle is conquered we need another. Not many anglers start out fishing by fly fishing in the salt. For the majority of us it is part of a natural form of progression from bait fishing to lure fishing and then onto fly. For most anglers when first learning to fight a hooked up fish on a fly rod there aren’t too many problems with regard to rod handling. We already know how to keep the hooks in a fish and how to use a rod correctly in order to create and use good fighting angles etc. Line management though, that’s a different kettle of fish. At some point on your journey you may want to target Giant Trevally and other finger burners and if you don’t have good line management skills then disappointment will be commonplace. Once

again we can use fish that inhabit our backyard to attain the skills required for us to advance on our journey. For myself in my backyard of the northern Whitsundays there is no fish that can teach line management skills better than either a mac or a Longtail Tuna as they are readily available and eat with gusto. Upon hook up, if you have the line wrapped around the rod butt or reel handle, happen to be standing on the line or have the line fouled on an object on the deck then these fish will let you know about it in a nano second.

Our fly fishing journeys aren’t limited to just on water antics. The artificial offerings that we tie onto the end of our tippets have to be thought about and created before we step onto the deck of a boat. Tying flies isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but for those of us who do indulge in it, it’s a very important and rewarding part of the journey. Our fly tying journeys as with our fly fishing journeys are best kept at the humble end of the scale when first setting out. Your equipment doesn’t have to be expensive and you don’t need a limitless array of materials. Stick to the good old ‘k.i.s.s’ principle as it is normally the simplest of fly patterns that consistently do the most damage. As you advance along your fly tying journey you’ll start to deviate from established fly patterns and alter them to suit your own personal requirements or possibly even conjure up new patterns all of your own. Once you get this far into the tunnel you know that you have your head space completely immersed in the game. To catch any fish on any fly that you have tied yourself is self-rewarding enough but when you catch a good fish on a fly that you have both designed and tied yourself then the sense of self achievement is through the roof.

Our fly fishing journeys are not only about the fishing there is also the environment in which we ply our trade. As I just mentioned, to start designing your own flies you have to have your head completely immersed in the game, not only the game but more so the environment that you are fishing in. In my opinion no other form of sport fishing makes you more aware of what’s going on around you than fly fishing and in particular sight fishing. During the earlier stages of our fly fishing journey when on the water and fishing, our primary

concentration is normally just on the fish that we are hunting and not everything else that is going on around us. As we progress further down the tunnel and accumulate more and more days on the water we become more aware of everything that is going on in our vicinity. Somewhere in the distance a small baitfish may flicker briefly or you might pick up on a V wake where a fishes caudal or dorsal fin has broken the surface for a split second. As you drift across a flat the bottom substrate may change slightly which could mean a different food source for the fish which in turn necessitates a fly change. Being able to pick up on small nuances such as this will often mean the difference between getting a bite or a refusal. Early on in your journey you cannot always expect yourself to be able to read everything that is happening in your immediate environment. But the sooner that you start trying to assess what is happening the sooner you’ll start learning and then be able to advance further along the tunnel.

Comradery and friendships forged. This to me personally is the most important part of the journey. All the flies that I have seen tied and cast over the years, all the flats drifted and fish caught, they would mean nothing without the company and the friendship of the people that I have met along the way. Being a guide I am fortunate enough to get to meet a lot of people from all different walks of life. When a client or clients step onto my boat it doesn’t matter who they are or where they come from, we become one, our mission is the same. When each day draws to a close whether it’s been successful or not these guys and gals are not just my clients, they’re my friends. I am sad when they leave and can’t wait to be reacquainted again.

Not very many sports or pastimes allow a small group of two or three people to work together so intensely for hours and days at a time and still always walk away happy at the end of it all every time. If you get nothing more from your personal fly fishing journey other than embracing the friendships you make and the special places it takes you then you are already a successful fly angler and nothing more matters.